This invention relates generally to the material handling art and, more particularly, to a method of and apparatus for handling glass sheet articles, such as automotive windshields for example.
In the production of glass products, such as present day automotive windshields for example, it is common practice to store and transport such windshields on racks between the various fabricating stages such as the pattern scoring, glass breaking-out, edge finishing, bending and tempering, and laminating operations for example. Much of the transfer of the glass sheets between the racks and the production line of the particular phase of production being conducted is done manually, usually by at least two attendants at each station who remove the sheets from the racks at the loading end of a particular line operation and another pair of attendants at the unloading end thereof to remove the processed glass sheets from the production line onto other racks. It can be readily appreciated that such manual operations seriously impair efficiency and productivity in a mass production operation, and thereby increase production costs. Also, the attendant fatigue in performing such arduous tasks often results in careless glass handling with consequent scratching, chipping or breaking of the glass products, further encumbering production and adding materially to production costs.